Nancy defending Rahm

[bigtree]

"Rahm Emanuel, thank you for a great victory on election day."

[Greeby]

1. The victory would have been twice as large

If he hadn't abandoned candidates who really oppose the war and oppose Shrub

[bigtree]

2. spoil sport

you psychic?

[Greeby]

4. If I was, I wouldn't be in this stinking town

Be out makin some serious money ;)

[StClone]

5. I like Rahm but

My opinion was he was adequate not outstanding. I watched him debate Rethugs and I found him wanting. Maybe he is better at behind the scenes planning and was a force in that regard but debate visa vie is so important for lasting impressions.

[riderinthestorm]

3. Rahm's candidate in my district was Tammy Duckworth

who REALLY opposed the war, and opposed Shrub, and is pro-choice, and is against earmarks and tax cuts for the Paris Hilton's of the world etc. etc.

The woman who lost in the primary against Tammy Duckworth, Christine Cegelis, is a much loved progressive figure here in my District but she would never have come within 4000 votes of Pete Roskam - the RNC pick for my District. And when I say RNC pick, Roskam had Bush, Cheney, Laura Bush, Tony Snow, Karl Rove and a whole slew of other Rethugs who personally came out here and campaigned for him.

The blatent mischaracterizations of Rahm Emmanuel's picks is pretty shitty imho. Emmanuel's no saint and I DO have some problems with his money distribution system and I believe that many of his candidates were/are flawed but to Monday morning quarterback this guy is just nuts. It's just not that simple.

In my District the progressive candidate Christine Cegelis would have lost in a landslide. As it is, Tammy Duckworth and Rahm Emmanuel have given hope to future Dems in this District for the first time ever - perhaps now some of them may even run for office. They have turned arguably the reddest District in this country solidly purple.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Rovo-Calls Hurt Tammy

I worked for Duckworth as well and that last weekend was hell, as people kept getting calls thinking it was from Duckworth and were pissed. It also messed up campaign phone lines that hampered organizing GOTV efforts.

The bottom line is Duckworth was way outspent by the RNC that blew through far more money than Emmanuel to hold this seat and only did so by the slimmest of margins.

The campaign very much reminded me of how things went in the neighboring 8th District where we barely lost to Crane in '02 and came back to win the seat in '04 and held it by 10 points last week.

I feel very upbeat about seeing both the 6th and 10th districts turn blue in the next election. I hope Tammy and Dan Seals make another run in '08...with a stronger ground organization and lessons learned from this last election.

Thank you for your work.

Cheers...

[riderinthestorm]

8. Yep, the robo calls were pathetic

I was cringing by the last weekend of canvassing and phoning - waiting for the first blast from someone who was sick to death of Roskam's robo-calls.

See, I feel very upbeat too now - for the first time in a long time about my District (blech, not necessarily my town but that's a whole nother story). I believe there is now a real chance for a Dem to take over this seat. It's possible and now we have the organization to pull it off.

I know you worked hard too. Cheers and thanks as well. Someday over a DU meetup we can cry and laugh over our drinks. :toast:

[bigtree]

10. can we package this comity and send it out to the masses?

:toast:

[KharmaTrain]

11. You Must Be In Wheaton...LOL

I live a mile east of the district and figured my help was needed there than here...and I'm glad I did. While I supported Cegalis in the primary, I agree with you that she would have lost far worse than Tammy did in face of the take-no-prisoners operation Hastert had set up in Oakbrook.

One of these days we need to get all the Chicago area DU'ers together and have a big victory party. Many here worked hard to sweep out a lot of the remaining red from this state.

[tritsofme]

18. After Roskam and Kirk won in the worst political environment for the GOP in more than a decade

I feel they will pretty much own those seats for as long they want them.

But Kirk's seat is only safe for Kirk. If he leaves it to seek statewide office, it should be an easy pickup.

[HardWorkingDem]

12. Hey KharmaTrain,

I contacted the VFW over the endorsement of T. Duckworth's opponent and the reply was she didn't ask for an endorsement of the VFW or fill out some sort of questionnaire the VFW sends out.

Can you give any further on this incident?

I was really rooting for her and am greatly disappointed in what the VFW did. The guy who returned my email sent me to their site and the explanation (basically that she didn't ask for the endorsement and didn't complete a survey that her opponent did).

Thanks,

[KharmaTrain]

13. Here's The Local News Story...

http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=246579

Roskam said the national endorsement was based on the recommendation by a few 6th District VFW leaders. The only one he named was Soden, a former head of the national VFW who was appointed to fill out former Republican Senate President James “Pate” Philip’s term in 2003.

Buttice said Soden sits on the national VFW’s political action committee board but had surgery Friday and was unavailable.

Bill Bahr, who is No. 2 in leadership at the Bloomingdale VFW post and who backs Duckworth, said neither he nor his post’s leader were “approached in any way” about an endorsement in the race.

The endorsement was rigged...pre-arranged and Duckworth never recieved a questionaire. And did she really need to reply? I think her missing legs said plenty.

The deal was rigged by a VFW commander who also was a Repugnican party toadie. It actually backfired on Roscum.

[HardWorkingDem]

14. How'd it backfire on Roscom? Also,

I agree (about her own service background being enough).

I think the courteous and HONORABLE thing to do would have been for the VFW to contact her because of the exceptional nature of this particular race. And it does stink of some Republican trying to help another rather than doing the right thing. I hope his fellow members gave him an earful.

Thank you for your reply.

[warrens]

16. I worked on Tammy's GOTV campaign

This sniveling about Rahm or Dean or whoever is getting really, really tiring. God, what a pack of whiners. I've already signed up for Tammy 08

[oasis]

17. Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) also supported Roskam (non-veteran)

against Duckworth, Iraq War vet and double amputee. :puke:

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. Twice as large? 460 Democrats in the House?

:shrug:

[Greeby]

9. lol, that'd be cool

I mean twice the pickups. If you run the numbers, you'll see a lot of these races with progressives running were uber-close. If Rahm had put some of that serious money the DCCC has into these campaigns, we'd be seeing a lot more winners

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/

[warrens]

15. Twice as large?

Out of whose ass did you pull that figure? He stuck by Tammy here in Illinois, and she nearly won. I think he and Dean both proved themselves this year and this ugly infighting is getting tiring.